Kawala

It's the end of an era...

Our friend's Becky and Simon's son's Daniel's band Kawala are playing their last London gig tonight which is a bittersweet affair. Debbie and I bump into Daniel outside the pub next to the Shepherds Bush Empire and it's a quick hug and "see you later" as he's got others to hug and chat to. We meet Daisy and Paul, fellow Kawala stalwarts, in the pub before wandering into the venue with them and the proud parents. Immediately we lose the latter and after getting a round in we squeeze down the steps and wedge ourselves at the back of the dance floor in time to see the band come on. The place is rammed indeed feels too full for safety. Daisy and Paul make their way back up the steps to more room but Debbie and I stand our ground. Why the band are breaking up I'm not sure given how popular they are but I guess making a living from music is getting harder and harder unless you are in the top 20 Spotify streamers or sell out stadia. The band come on to tumultuous applause and rip through a fantastic set with many old favourites which the crowd love and it seems know most of the lyrics. I was concerned that it would be a little bit of a downer but the atmosphere is party party and the band are loving it. The front two Daniel and Jim give the usual banter and Daniel especially gets the laughs. There is lots of chat and they nod to Bombay Bicycle Club who's drummer  is giving us a roll of the skins as the Meninblack would have said. One bit of fun is Daniel being persuaded to stage dive which is is forced to agree to by weight of numbers. Not sure he leapt but I think was in the mosh down the front for a song which his guitarist had to take over from him. Then it came to The End. Not the club but the end of an era. One in which I saw Kawala quite a few times from various small to larger London venues and in Leeds a few times. And in which I starred in a song video due to my cool dance moves. OK, 2 seconds of dad dancing but as Warhol said... not quite 15 minutes. So the guys in Kawala have had more than their share of 15 minutes. It seems sad for them to be giving this up but what wouldn't most of us give to have thousands of fans' adulation for an hour on stage. Time after time. I'm sure that they will all go onto other and greater things. So they play their last song and introduce the band and various back stagers before of course coming back for a two song encore and to a still full house they take a bow before exiting the stage. By this time I've squirmed out of the dance floor area and watch from above with bar optics between me and the stage. Like I said, no one left before the very end and even then there must have been 5 minutes of clapping. Extraordinary. I meet Debbie outside and having lost everyone else we make our way across Shepherds Bush Green in the cold night air. Can't wait to see what Daniel gets up to next. A beginning always follows an end...